WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI

MUSINGSVol. XXI No. 7 July 16-31, 2011

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INSIDE

• Short ‘N’ Snappy

• When a Heritage Act?

• The Congress in Madras

• Chennoise – that’s us

• In search of the tribals

Delhi & Ahmadabad

(By A Madras Week Coordinator)

But can we at leastget a Heritage Act?

Built for the new Secretariat and Assembly complex.

Whatever the views on this building,to good use it must be put

by virtue of its being the capitalcity, it will be given priority.Now where does that leaveChennai which is nowhere neareven a locally enacted legisla-tion to protect its heritage?

This year, the team thathelps catalyse a Madras Weekin August hopes to launch a sig-nature campaign to press theGovernment for the passing ofa Heritage Act. With almost allother modes and avenues hav-ing been exhausted, this ap-pears to be the only way ahead.Readers of Madras Musingsneed hardly be reminded thatthe draft of a Heritage Act wascompleted in 2002 and had itbeen adopted then, we wouldnot be a city minus buildingssuch as Gandhi Illam, CapperHouse, the erstwhile MadrasClub building on Express Es-tates, and Government House.And Bharat Insurance Buildingwould not be facing an uncer-tain future. However, withQueen Mary’s College beingthreatened in 2003, the draftregulations were quietlyshelved. Since then there havebeen attempts at revival in fitsand starts, but nothing concretehas emerged.

The High Court then tookthe initiative and, in response to

It was announced last week that Delhi will be applying toUNESCO that it be recognised as a Heritage City. The Indian

National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has puttogether a dossier on the subject and has approached the Archaeo-logical Survey of India with a request to make the application toUNESCO. Ahmadabad is already in the race and Delhi hopes that,

The State Government hasfirmly rejected all sugges-

tions that it should continue tooperate some of its departmentsfrom the recently built Assem-bly-cum-Secretariat building. Ithas been decided that Fort StGeorge will be its home and thereasons being given for this arethat the new building is yet in-complete and that there is anenquiry pending on alleged ir-regularities in the construction.If that decision is irrevocable,then the Government alsoought to specify as to what itsplans are for the building. Itdoes not make sense to have avast edifice standing empty af-ter a huge amount of money hasbeen spent on its construction.

You just need to walk downMount Road to notice that thebuilding is already going to seed.The neon signs announcingthat it was indeed the StateChief Secretariat and Assemblyhave been removed. The gar-dens are devoid of any securityand at night the building iscompletely dark without anylight anywhere on the campus.This way the structure will soon

fall prey to vandals. Its vast sizealso means that it has the po-tential for unlawful activitiesand may become the den ofanti-socials. The area to therear is still under developmentand there is no clear-cut planon what is to come up there.

What is ironic is that theState Government is eternallyin need of space. Several of itsdepartments are functioningfrom rented premises in variousparts of the city. Accepting the

Government’s argument that itis impossible to have depart-ments functioning from two lo-cations (the Fort and the newAssembly) implies that havingsome of the offices in far-flunglocations is equally inconve-nient. Surely these can be ac-commodated in the new Secre-tariat? We also have ChennaiMetro Rail Limited, which hasfor the purposes of its officetaken over a vast and verdantcampus in Nandanam belong-

ing to the Tamil Nadu Agricul-tural University. Surely thisGovernment-sponsored com-pany can fit all its departmentsinto the new Secretariat,thereby sparing the Nandanamproperty? At least we will thisway have some use for a build-ing that has cost us Rs. 1000crore and more.

Every property requiresmaintenance and that will hap-pen in the new Secretariat onlyif it is occupied. If it is left to theelements, it will soon decay and,as and when the Governmentdecides to move in, a hugeamount of expenditure will beincurred in refurbishing theplace. That can certainly beavoided if the building ispeopled from the start.

The Government may wellwant to take a leaf from thebook of neighbouring Karna-taka. When in the 1950s theVidhan Soudha was being con-structed, there were allegationsof irregularities against the thenChief Minister Kengal Hanu-manthiah. But that did not

(Continued on page 3)

(Continued on page 6)

� By The Editor

steal

a march

That ‘Sink’ing feelingWedding Yellai Sapaads are

great – grand tradition...yummy food....

But –There’s a tricky side.They tend to get ...er...wet-

ish....you know?Which means that the after-

meal dash to the ratherstrangely named ‘wash area’requires strategy and timing,as it involves drippy fingersand possible damage to outfits(both your own and of oth-ers).

That’s when you realise fellowsink-users come in variousforms – and they all cause de-lays.

The Have-Mirror –Will-Look-ers: These tend to gaze ear-nestly at their own faces; pat-ting their hair, adjusting eyemakeup, while the queue be-hind grows and languishes.

The Argle-Bargle-Garglers:This variety likes to springclean their mouths, throats....and judging from the sound –the inside of their toes – in theopen. Should you call the cops– or an ambulance?

The OCD Hand Washers: Boy,do they wash, wash, wash,while the queue behind stea-dily ages.

The Lingerers: They’re done –but will chat with co-sinkers,discover long lost friends, callout greetings, oblivious toglares or dark mutterings.

Then, the I-Don’t-Care-About-The-Next-User Messers –ghastly.

Maybe we need signs....or Do/Don’t pamphlets handed outalong with the handfuls ofbless-the-couple akshatai.

Seriously – some rules here,guys.

Otherwise, we’re sunk...er....‘sink-sunk’.

Ranjitha Ashok

You know Kittu Maama! Themore and more he washes his hand,the greater he has enjoyed thesaappadu!!

(Also see page 2)

2 MADRAS MUSINGS July 16-31, 2011

When do weget aHeritage Act?

(Continued on page 7)

Hi-decibel weddingsThe Man from Madras

Musings is still reelingfrom the impact of the wed-ding season and those of youwho read his columns willhave no choice but to hearmore on the subject. Andhear, as far as MMM is con-cerned, is the operative word.For, MMM notices that ourweddings have become highdecibel affairs which need tobe seriously monitored fornoise pollution and aural dam-age.

There was a time whenweddings in the city werecharacterised by the nagas-waram ensemble, with theonly other sounds being thoseof the conversation, the laugh-ter and the priest steadily in-toning the hymns. Then camethe reformist weddings wherethe priest was replaced by a re-spected elder who gave aspeech and then supervisedthe tying of the knot. But allthings have come a full circleand MMM notices that thepriest has made a strong come-back and, what’s more, havingtaken a leaf from the book of

was busy clambering on to stageto wish the couple. The priestdid not appear to mind. He wasbusy announcing the gifts, thenames of those who gave themand if it was in cash the amountalso. Some of those who gavecash did not appear overly en-thusiastic about their namesand the amounts being an-nounced, for obvious reasons.Then, after a brief bout ofchants, he was back, this timeannouncing the various shrinesfrom where blessings had beenreceived. In short, he had thetime of his life.

To his bellowings you justhad to add the general high-pitched conversation, and withthe noise of the traffic outsideand the oppressive weather, youknew for sure that the newly-weds had had a wedding theywould never forget.

The loss of power

Every day, even if for only anhour, The Man from Madras

Musings is made aware howpainful the loss of power can be.No, he is not spending an houreach day with one of the unsuc-cessful candidates in the recentelections. He is referring to thepower-cut, also known for somereason as load-shedding. In theearly days, MMM, having cometo know that areas in themofussil had for long been put-ting up with this problem, wasall for sharing their burden. Butnow his patience is wearingthin. Let them use lanterns isMMM’s secret comment,though he does not utter it inpublic.

When the idea of a power-cut in Madras was first mooted,

unfortunately heard what hesaid to the caller which wasclearly inappropriate and inaus-picious to the occasion.

Shortly thereafter, he wasback on the air addressing theaudience, this time giving a de-tailed account of what happensat a marriage. The audience wastoo busy talking to itself to no-tice, for after all nothing out-of-the-ordinary ever happens inany of these events. Then, aftera few desultory chants and a fewphone calls (“Yes, you can buythose shares”), he was onceagain addressing his flock andthis time he gained everyone’sattention. “We are now tyingthe knot,” he thundered andthat made the audience go si-lent even as the pipers anddrummers worked themselvesto a musical crescendo.

“And once that is over,” heshrieked above the music,“please don’t come crowdingfor shaking hands of the brideand the groom. That is reservedfor later. Now they must holdonly each other’s hands.” No-body bothered with that, forwithin a few minutes, everyone

a schedule was published andit was announced that the rotasystem would be followedstrictly. But that was observedmore in the breach than inpractice, and now MMM hasmade his own private schedulewhich, simply put, means youcan expect a power cut whenyou least expect it. There aredays when power is turned offat the main for a full day, os-tensibly under the claim ofmaintenance. We must surelybe the only place in the worldwhere maintenance of an es-sential utility requires it to beturned off at the main! Or is itthat the powers-that-be in theelectricity department areworking overtime to cover upfor lack of maintenance in thepast. Certainly, a cursory lookat some of the transformersand wires gives MMM that im-pression. His supply is from atransformer which at the firstsight of a cloud in the skyturns into a fire-cracker ofsorts. It lets off colourfulsparks and when a drop of wa-ter falls on it explodes andthrows off pieces of rubber.

reformist wedding, delivers aspeech interspersed withhymns. Thereby he demon-strates his superiority anddurability no doubt, for thereformer would not be ableto chant hymns.

But what everyone con-veniently forgets to note isthat priests do not need thespeaker’s mike to hold. But,like seasoned speakers, theydo not like to let go of themike, as MMM has noticedat countless weddings. Lastweek, MMM was at one suchevent, where a nearapoplectic priest, who hadobviously done rather well atmeals, was dominating theshow.

The bride and bride-groom had hardly sat downwhen the agent-of-God wasoff to a start, delivering aspeech on the importance ofthe marriage. He chose to ex-pand on the topic at greatlength, dwelling in detail onwhat could possibly gowrong in that blessed state oflife. But the way he spoke ofthe pitfalls made MMMwonder if he was almosthinting to the betrothedcouple that this was their lastchance to break it all off andwalk away into a sunset offreedom.

Then it was back tohymns and chants for a whileduring which assistantpriests did the intoning whilethe star-of-the-show busiedhimself with answering callson his cell phone. He did notlet go of the mike even thenand those who paid attentioncould clearly hear what hewas talking. And MMM

Power cuts usually dullMMM’s mind and it is onone such occasion that hecame up with this:

Monday’s cut is outage inevery phaseTuesday’s cut is low volt-age in a phaseWednesday it is underguise of maintenanceThursday cut means youtake it as a penanceFriday’s cut is terrible andtiringSaturday’s cut is really en-ervating.The cut on the Sabbath dayheaps MMM’s curse on theTNEB in every way.

Not one of MMM’s bestbut he is not Alfred, LordTennyson.

Tailpiece

It was once again at a wed-ding and the event being

over, The Man from MadrasMusings and his good ladywere trying to gain the atten-tion of the valet-parking ser-vice attendant. This was tono avail as several otherswere attempting the same.But then along came a sten-torian voice that imperiouslyasked for its vehicle. “It’s aBenz,” it said in clear tonesfor the benefit of the rest ofthe crowd and the attendant,also perhaps implying thatbeing a Benz entitled the ve-hicle to priority. Now MMMrealises why his own humblevehicle is often the last to befetched by parking lot atten-dants.

– MMM

Heritage generally refers tosomething we have inher-

ited from our ancestors. It isused to relate to cultural heri-tage, natural heritage, virtualheritage, heritage canals, heri-tage routes, etc. Underwaterheritage and movable heritagehave also been seriously consid-ered in recent years. UNESCO,in its convention held in 1972,noted that cultural and naturalheritages are increasinglythreatened with destruction notonly by decay but also by thechanging social and economicconditions, which aggravate thesituation. In view of the magni-tude and gravity of the newdangers threatening them, it isincumbent on the internationalcommunity to participate in theprotection of heritage of out-standing value.

UNESCO has defined ‘cul-tural heritage’ as

� Monuments, sculpture andpaintings, elements or struc-tures of an archaeological na-ture, inscriptions, cave dwell-ings, and combinations of fea-tures which are of outstandinguniversal value from the pointof view of history, art or science;

� Groups of buildings, groupsof separate or connected build-ings which, because of their ar-chitecture, their homogeneityor their place in the landscape,are of outstanding universalvalue from the point of view ofhistory, art or science; and

� Works of man or the com-bined works of nature and man,and areas including archaeo-logical sites which are of out-standing universal value fromthe historical, aesthetic, ethno-logical or anthropological pointof view.

‘Natural heritage’ has beendefined as

� Natural features consistingof physical and biological for-mations or groups of such for-mations, which are of outstand-ing universal value from theaesthetic or scientific point ofview;

� Geological and physio-graphical formations and pre-cisely delineated areas, whichconstitute the habitat of threat-ened species of animals andplants of outstanding universalvalue from the point of view ofscience or conservation; and

� Natural sites from thepoint of view of science, conser-vation or natural beauty.

‘Digital heritage’, also called‘e-heritage’, refers to computer-based materials of enduringvalue that should be kept forfuture generations. Under-standing that the digital heri-tage is at risk of being lost and

that its preservation for thebenefit of the present and fu-ture generations is an urgent is-sue of worldwide concern,UNESCO proclaimed certainprinciples and adopted a Char-ter in 2003. Virtual systems andmultimedia pioneered the fieldof virtual heritage over a decadeago. UNESCO’s strategy in-cludes conservation of movableheritage and museums.

‘Underwater cultural heri-tage’ encompasses all traces ofhuman existence that lie orwere lying under water and hada cultural or historical charac-ter. UNESCO elaborated it inits convention held in 2001 onthe protection of underwatercultural heritage.

Noting that the ‘culturalheritage’ has changed contentconsiderably in recent decades,UNESCO adopted, on June 24,2010 directives on the safe-guarding of intangible culturalheritage. Cultural heritage doesnot end with monuments andcollections of objects but alsoincludes traditions or living ex-pressions inherited from our an-cestors and passed on to our de-scendants, such as oral tradi-tions, performing arts, socialpractices, rituals, festive events,knowledge, and practices con-cerning nature and the universeor the knowledge and skills toproduce traditional crafts.In India

Rapid urbanisation hasbrought immense pressure onland and resources. Thesechanges have brought about thedestruction of many pricelessbuildings and built environs,and have resulted in the loss oftraditional building methodsand skills.

The existing infrastructureand supporting legislation areall directed towards new devel-opment in both planning andconstruction. These laws are in-adequate in protecting the vastcultural heritage of this coun-try. A new, urgent and alterna-tive approach is required to en-sure that what is left of our valu-able inheritance is not lost for-ever. This approach will ac-knowledge conservation as anintegral part of and not contra-dictory to development.

Recognition of the need toprotect and conserve ‘heritage’and environs is the aim andthrust of a Heritage Act. Sens-ing the need for such an Act,the Indian National Trust forArt and Cultural Heritage(INTACH) started a heritagemovement and drafted a modelAct as early as 1990 and urgedState regulations governing

SHORT ’N’ SNAPPY

July 16-31, 2011 MADRAS MUSINGS 3

Recently, there have been many commentsin the media on the suitability of Metro rail

or Monorail for Chennai. There are also studiesbeing carried out for a BRT system at grade onsome corridors in Chennai. Each system has itsown merits and demerits and no single modecan be the solution for a city like Chennai, withits mix of only a few wide roads and manynarrow but still busy roads.

Metro rail is the most expensive, but at thesame time it has the highest capacity and speedpotential. World experience is that on corridorswith likely traffic density of 30,000 and overPHPDT, Metro rail is necessary. BRT, which ismost cost effective, has also reached such ca-pacity in some Latin American cities. Such cor-ridors would have four dedicated bus (BRT)lanes on the median, one pair for the slowerbuses and the other pair for faster limited stopbuses or for overtaking. Metro rail is more ex-pensive, especially if it has to go underground.If it can be elevated, which is possible on roadswith ROW of 25m and over, the overall costwill be about 25 per cent higher than Monorail.The Monorail structure being light is less costly,but the monorail vehicle cost will be more thanthat of a metro coach combination of equiva-lent capacity. For example, the Monorail underconstruction in Mumbai is estimated to costabout Rs.130 crore per kilometre.

A study of the cities where Monorail hasbeen used would indicate that they have beenused as airport links in major cities and for maincorridors in Level II cities, especially in Japan,which have busy corridors. The highest rider-ship achieved in a direction appears to be17,000 per hour by Chongziang Monorail inChina. The longest line is a 28-km link fromairport and to Osaka city carrying about100,000 passengers a day. One of the earliestand busiest Monorail lines is the 17-km linefrom Tokyo airport to city and it carries a maxi-mum of 300,000 passengers a day. Singaporehas provided short Monorail loops serving theirMRT stations in some neighbourhoods Thus, itis an ideal mode for medium density corridorsand dedicated links and as a feeder mode.

Mumbai, the first city in India to implementMonorail, has adopted it for a line fromChembur to Jacob Circle, a length of about19 km of which, it is learnt, trial runs are on inthe first 8.26 km. There is a Master plan for theregion, which includes 135 km of Monorail. Atthe same time, they are fast progressing on anEast-West Metro line and have planned takingup a longer North-South line. They are alsooptimising and adding some parallel lines on theexisting suburban lines and are laying exten-

Integrated Public Transport forChennai

WHAT’S ITSFUTURE?

(Continued from page 1)

sions of the suburban lines in Navi Mumbai.Thus, they have gone in for a mix of modes tosuit traffic density and ROW availability.

When the Monorail proposals were made in2006 for Chennai, the main objection raised wasabout adopting it on very dense corridors likeAnna Salai and Periyar Salai. Thankfully, now,the Metro rail corridors proposed on these twocorridors will stay. While planning further, it issuggested that a specific traffic study is con-ducted to assess traffic corridor-wise. Thedenser corridors should be earmarked for futureMetro rail links. A typical example is the Fore-shore Estate-Porur-Poonamallee corridor viaT’Nagar-Vadapalani.

The next level corridors, where Right of Wayis adequate, BRT will be more cost effective, e.g.corridors like, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) andAnna Nagar-Madhavaram via IRR. The corri-dors with narrow roads and/or winding align-ment at this level of traffic requirement will bebest for Monorail.

The main advantage of Monorail is that itsstructure occupies minimum space. It need notnecessarily be on the median. The up and downlines can be taken along the kerb on either sideof the road and stations provided in between thetwo lines at intervals. On still narrower roads, aline in one direction can be taken on one roadand the return direction line on a parallel roadclose by. To start with, old tramline corridors,excluding the lengths covered by the Metro railunder construction, will easily qualify for thismode with some modifications e.g. (i) ChennaiBeach to Moolakkadai via Mint-Basin Bridge;ii) Purasawalkam-Vepery-Egmore; iii)Egmore-Chintadripet-Wallajah Road-Triplicane HighRoad-Barber’s Bridge; iv) Anna Salai-Royapettah High Road-Luz. Amongst new ones,an orbital line from Light House to Moolakkadaivia Gemini, Nungambakkam, Kilpauk, andPerambur can be considered. Further, Monorailcan be used as feeder mode in the suburbs andin a circular route in CBD as suggested by somesenior experts.

The suggestions given above for differentmodal corridors are only indicative. In all cases,however, there should be proper intermodaltransfer facilities provided wherever differentmass transit modes (including MRTS and Sub-urban Rail) meet or cross each other. In addi-tion feeder bus services will need to be providedat important stations.

Dr. S. PonnuswamyAddl. General Manager (Retd), Southern Railway

56, Venkatratnam NagarAdyar, Chennai 600 020

mean that the building had tobe abandoned. It was put togood use and has remained alandmark of Bangalore.

The new Assembly-cum-Secretariat in Chennai toopromises to become alandmark, but of a differentkind – as a symbol of the parti-san politics that our Statespecialises in.

Of kavu and caves

I would like to add to some ofProf. Raman’s statements

(MM, July 16th). The first builtshrine could be a small struc-ture similar to that for Chandi-keswarar we find in Sivatemples. Later, big structuressimilar to Garbagrahams werebuilt. Praharas and gopuramswere still later additions.

Regarding kavu and kaaba,kavu means a ‘shrine’ or ‘sanc-tuary’. But this word is notfound in that sense in Tamil,Telugu or Kannada, the princi-pal spoken Dravidian languagesof the time. So it could be aword which has its roots in someother ancient language.

Similarly, kaaba is the nameof the holiest shrine of Islam inMecca. Nobody knows at whatpoint of time it was built. So thename may have been in exist-ence before Arab settlement ofthe Arabian Peninsula. Waskaaba also built within a forest?It is a windowless, single en-trance structure, rectangular inplan and with flat roof.

It is stated by AlainDaniélou in his book ‘L’Histoirede l’Inde that the Arabian Pen-insula was once a fertile landand became a desert at a laterdate. Was the Arabian Penin-sula then occupied by a differ-ent race that practised a kind ofreligion which the Arabs whocame later adopted. Perhaps so,when the kaaba was built

Al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and Manat,all female deities, in addition tonumerous idols, were wor-shipped by the Arabs of Meccaduring pre-Islamic period. Thetribe Quraysh comprised thepeople in charge of the shrinecalled kaaba. The ProphetMohammed belonged to thattribe.

The root of the French word‘cave’ is given as cava in Latinaccording to the French dictio-nary Peitt Le Robert. The 1959edition of Chamber’s Twentieth

Till July 31: Photography Exhibi-tion: Temples of India by Photo-graphic Society of Madras (atDakshinaChitra).

Till August 31: Children’s Mela –Folk performances, puppetshows, storytelling, and other ac-tivities for schoolchildren (atDakshinaChitra).

Worshops at DakshinaChitraAdult workshops;July 23 & 24: Miniature painting

on marbleJuly 30: Vegetable and fruit carv-

ing. For details, contact27472603, 27472783

Century Dictionary also fur-nishes the derivative of the En-glish word Cave as Latin. Arethe words kavu, kaaba and cavaderivatives of an unknownmother language?

From time immemorial somecaves have been used as shrinesfor one or more deities.

S.N. Mahalingam64-A, Kalamegam Street Extn.

SBI Colony II StreetKamarajapuram

Chennai 600 073

Whose responsibility?

While we agree with manyof Prabha Sridevan’s ob-

servations (MM, June 16th), itmust be stated that as regardsthe maintenance of the tene-ments, all the allottees togethershould have jointly organised amaintenance crew for upkeep,repairs, replastering, repainting,etc. of the buildings. There islack of feeling and responsibil-ity of ownership among the oc-cupants which has led to over-all deterioration. The TamilNadu Slum Clearance Boardshould have supervised, moni-tored and controlled things.

K. Soundarraj &Mrs Adhilakshmi Logamurthy

10/12, 8th StreetDr. Radhkrishnan Salai

Chennai 600 004

Change it back

I fully endorse the views ofreader N.P. Andavan regard-

ing our city’s name, i.e. Madras.Changing the name was a hastydecision like changing theTamil New Year Day from April14th to January 14th. It is hightime the city name is changedback to Madras. Better latethan never.

Sundaramsomasundararam@hotmail.com

Chennai 600 017

* * *

About the old debate onChennai and Madras

(MM, July 1st), one point needsto be made clear. In the Tamilcontext this city was alwaysknown as Chennai.

I studied in a Tamil mediumschool in a village and our les-sons spoke about ‘Chennai’. Ifyou see the Tamil magazinesand dailies of the 1930s andeven earlier, it was alwaysChennai. Railway timetables inTamil and radio programmesmentioned Chennai. But therewas this other name Madrasalso in use. So the city carriedon with both names, Chennaiin Tamil, Madras in English.What the Government of TamilNadu did was merely to jettisonone name.

S. Theodore BaskaranAsha Township Phase II

Dodda Gubbi PostBangalore 560 077

* * *

I fully endorse the views andexpressions of reader Jaidev

in ‘Madras again’ (MM,July 16th). It is time to recon-sider and bring back the nameMadras. The name Madras stillrings in the ears. We have con-stant reminders of Madrasthrough Madras High Court,Madras Fertilizers, Madras Uni-

versity, Madras Central railwaystation, Madras Airport, IIT-Madras, Madras Race Club,Madras Club, Madrasis, MadrasMusings! to mention a few.

Dr. H.K. Lakshman Rao33, Krishnapuri, R.A. Puram

Chennai 600 028A big ‘Thank You’ to 26 of you

We publish below the list of donors who have, between 16.06.11and 15.07.11, added to the support Chennai Heritage and its voice,Madras Musings, have already received. We thank all of them fortheir support for the causes Chennai Heritage espouses.

– Chennai Heritage

Rs.50: Arul’s Coaching CentreRs.100: Manuel Aaron; Narayanan, KS.; Ananthachari, K.;

Shanmugakani, K.; Venugopal, R.; Vittal Rao, K.;Umamahesh Krishnan; Shantha Venkataraman; Krishna,S.

Rs.120: Venkataseshan, R.Rs.200: Ponraj, S.; Chandrasekaran, N.; Muthukumaran, S.;

Viswanathan, TS.Rs.400: George K John; Ahalya Chari; Ravi, K.;

Vijayaraghavan, B.; Sridhar, R.Rs.444: Vipradas, GB.Rs.900: Shankar, P.; Ramasamy, SA.; Book Marketing

Services; Malathi Ramaswamy; Amalgamated Engineers

July 16-31, 2011 MADRAS MUSINGS 54 MADRAS MUSINGS July 16-31, 2011

The evolution of a coin no moreNo longer is it legal tender: The road has finally come to an end for the humble 25 paise coin. The Reserve Bank of

India is withdrawing from circulation coins of 25 paise and below from June 30, 2011. Coins of denominations of 25paise and below will not be accepted for exchange at the bank branches from July 1, 2011 onwards. We trace the historyof the 25 paise coin from the British era to contemporary India. (Sent to us by PADMINI NATARAJAN).

The first issues of the quarter rupee coins were released inIndia during the reign of William IV. The coins were madeof silver.

1835

The longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom,Queen Victoria also held the title of the Empress of India.

1840

The coins issued later in Queen Victoria’s reign had a moremature looking bust of the queen. The quarter rupee coinswere made of silver.

1875

While Queen Victoria was adding to her years in real life,she also put in a bit of weight on her image on the coins.

1890

The new century also witnessed a change on the Britishmonarchy. Following the death of his mother Queen

1909

A new design of coins was introduced in 1919 that sought toreplace the then existing silver quarter rupee coins. The new

1920

George V was crowned the King in 1910. He was also thefirst reigning British monarch to tour India. The 4 anna coins

1925

King George VI was the last of the British monarchs to ruleover India. His predecessor Edward VIII abdicated the

1939

Following the Independence of India the currency systemcontinued with the British series of coins till the establish-

1950

Another major landmark in the history of the 25 paise coinhappened following the introduction of the decimal series in1959

equivalent of the quarter rupee coin was the 4 anna coin, that was madefrom cupro-nickel instead of silver. The rising silver prices following theFirst World War necessitated this change. These coins had the effigy ofKing George V.

throne in order to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.There were no coins issued for Edward VIII. While coins of other denomi-nations went for a design change, the quarter rupee coins continued, withonly a new monarch replacing the old.

ment of the Indian Republic. The first coins of independent India wereintroduced on August 15, 1950 and they included the quarter rupee coinmade of nickel. The coins had the words ‘char anna’ embossed in Devnagriscript and had the Ashoka emblem on one side.

accordance with the Indian Coinage Act that came into force from April1, 1957. The 19 mm 25 paise coins were called ’25 naye paise’. The term‘naye paise’ was used for wider public recognition of the new coinagesystem and was discontinued from June 1, 1964 when the word ‘naye’was dropped. The coins weighed 5 grams and were made of nickel.

When the Congressmet in Madras

� by Karthik A. Bhatt

The Indian NationalCongress was 125 years old

on December 28, 2010. Thislandmark event did not receivemuch attention, scams and scan-dals no doubt hogging the lime-light. This article is to mark thatmilestone, belated though it is.

Madras was where the seedsof the Indian National Congresswere sown and, in the years lead-ing up to Independence, the citywas to play host to eight sessionsof the party. I look at some ofthese historic venues here.

The idea of an Indian Na-tional Congress took shape inlate December 1884 when 17men met at the house of DewanBahadur Raghunatha Rao inMylapore to chart out a plan forthe formation of a political Na-tional Movement. Most of the 17men were delegates to the An-nual Convention of the Theo-sophical Society that had justconcluded at Adyar. Thoughwhat exactly was discussed at themeeting is not known, it is gen-erally accepted that this gather-ing of the 17 men sowed theseeds of the formation of theCongress. The residence wherethe meeting was held does notexist now, and in its place todaystands an apartment complex –Vishwakamal. Residents of thecomplex remember a plaquecommemorating that meeting,but it has long vanished.

After its formation, the firstCongress session to be held inMadras was in December 1887.This was the 3rd Congress Ses-sion, the first two having beenheld in Poona and Calcutta re-spectively. The chairman of thereception committee of the Ma-dras Session was Sir T.MadhavaRao, civil servant, administratorand Dewan of Travancore,

Indore and Baroda at differenttimes. The event was held atMackay’s Gardens. This is an areathat exists by the same nameeven today and lies just offGraeme’s Road. 607 delegatesattended it, Madras leading thenumbers with 362 participants.An interesting trivia, though notverified, is that today’s ThousandLights area takes its name thanksto the Thousand Lights thatwere lit to commemorate the oc-casion. It was in this session thatCongress got its first MuslimPresident with the election ofBadruddin Tyabji to the post.

Entertainments were hostedby the Governor of Madras, LordConnemara, Rajah Sir SavalaiRamaswamy Mudaliar, the phi-lanthropist and the then Sheriffof Madras, and Eardley Norton,a leading lawyer.

The next Congress Session inMadras was in 1894. This wasthe 10th Session of the party andwas held in Hyde Park Gardenson Poonamallee High Road, aplace that exists even today aspart of the Kilpauk Medical Col-lege campus. It was the propertyof the Rajah of Panagal,Panuganti Ramarayaningar, andit was later made over to the In-dian Medical Practitioners’ As-sociation for the setting up of acollege that would teach Indiansystems of medicine. Sir AlfredWebb, an Irishman was electedthe Chairman of this Session.Little else is known about thissession other than the variousresolutions that were passed.

The Congress returned toMadras for its 14th Session, heldin December 1898. AnandaMohan Bose was the Chairmanof this session, which was held atPatter’s Gardens, Royapettah, theresidence of the wealthy GujaratiLodd family. The scions of thisfamily were known for their phi-lanthropy and support to socialcauses. Patter’s Gardens still sur-vives, though its vast gardenshave now been swallowed up byconstructions. The headquartersof the Congress Party, SatyamurtiBhawan, stands adjoining theGardens on land donated byLodd Govinddoss, the best-known member of the family. Histomb, surrounded by denseshrubbery, still stands on thecampus.

Madras played host to the19th Session of the Congress in

1903. The venue this time wasSpring Gardens, Teynampet,where a pandal accommodatingnearly 6000 persons was put up.Interestingly, Burma was repre-sented for the first time in a Con-gress session here. Lal MohanGhose was elected President ofthis session. Spring Gardens was aproperty dating back at least to1822, then owned by oneJ. Sherman. It later seems to havechanged hands many times, hav-ing been mentioned as the resi-dence of the Rajah of Pitha-puram, Rajah Ram VenkataKumara Mahipati, Surya RaoBahadur Garu, as revealed in abook published in 1915. Sir C.Madhavan Nair, Judge of the

Madras High Court, also seemsto have owned the property atsome point of time as mentionedin his short biography of his fa-ther-in-law, Sir C. SankaranNair. Springs Gardens later be-came home of the Motion Pic-tures Combine, promoted byfilm-maker K. Subrahmanyan,and finally metamorphosed intoS.S. Vasan’s Gemini Studio. Inthe heart of this sylvan campusstood a house that was once sup-posed to have been lived in byEdward, the second Lord Clive.Today all this has been overrunby several highrises and a starhotel that in its own way cel-ebrates Chennai’s film heritage –The Park.

Two notable matters dis-cussed in the Spring Gardens ses-sion were the Coronation Durbarheld in Delhi earlier that yearand the Madras Municipal Billwhich was to be introduced. Onthe subject of the CoronationDurbar, the Congress tookstrong exception to the treat-ment accorded to the IndianPrinces – “subjected to a humili-ation they had never known be-fore under the British Govern-ment” – and to the Indian visi-tors, who returned with “bittermemories of the different treat-ment received by Indians andEuropeans.” The Madras Mu-

nicipal Bill was called “retrogradeand reactionary” by the SessionPresident and a resolution waspassed condemning its introduc-tion. The Bill evoked strong criti-cism as it proposed to reduce thenumber of popular representa-tives to 16 (from 24) and pro-posed 8 to associations wholly ormainly composed of Europeans.Strong exception was also takento the Bill due to the fact that itwas not in consonance with theprinciples of Local Self Govern-ment laid down in the time ofLord Ripon.

The 23rd Session of the Con-gress was held in Madras in 1908.This session was held in excep-tional circumstances, it havingbeen adjourned from Suratwhere it was originally scheduledin 1907. The move to Madraswas caused thanks to the riotingand chaos that took place inSurat due to a split in the Partyover the election of the Presi-dent, thus leading to the ad-journment of the Session. Fol-lowing this, the ConventionCommittee met at Allahabad inApril 1908 where a Constitutionwas drawn up for the Indian Na-tional Congress. Thus, Madrashad the distinction of playinghost to the first session held inDecember 1908 under a formalConstitution. The session washeld at Elphinstone Grounds,Mount Road, later the home oftwo theatres of the same nameand, of course, the place to whichyoung Madras flocked for its fixof Jaffar’s ice cream and, in par-ticular, Peach Melba.

The next Congress Sessionheld in Madras was in 1914. Thiswas held in a pavilion erected inthe grounds of Doveton House inNungambakkam. This is one ofMadras’s historic buildingsthanks to its origins that can betraced to the 1790s, when it wasbuilt by a Benjamin Roebuck.The home got its name when itbecame the residence of a JohnDoveton, who had purchased iton his becoming a LieutenantGeneral, from its owner LinghiChetty in 1837. John Dovetonhad served as the guardian ofTippu Sultan’s two sons whowere taken into custody by Lord

Cornwallis. After his time, theproperty changed hands with theGovernment acquiring it. It ac-quired a degree of notorietywhen Khande Rao Gaekwad, theusurper of the Baroda throne,was housed in it after he was de-posed by the British in 1870. TheWomen’s Christian Collegemoved into this campus in 1916and Doveton House survives eventoday.

The 1914 session was well at-tended with 866 delegates par-ticipating. The platform wascrowded with several Madrasnoteworthies when the Presi-dent-elect Bhupendranath Basureached the venue in a proces-sion and was escorted to the pa-vilion door by a guard of Con-gress volunteers on cycles. Thesession was a historic one as itwas visited by the Governor ofMadras, Lord Pentland. It wasthe first ever visit by a Governorto a Congress session.

The Congress did not return toMadras till 1927, when the 42ndSession was held in the dry bed ofthe Spur Tank in Chetpet. It washere that for the first time theCongress called for Purna Swaraj,or complete freedom, withJawaharlal Nehru moving the In-dependence Resolution. It alsopaved the way for the formation ofthe Music Academy, as an off-shoot of an All India Music Con-ference that was held in conjunc-tion with the Congress Session.

The Congress last met in Ma-dras in 1955. The famous Avadisession saw the adoption of aresolution moved by JawaharlalNehru on the ‘Socialistic Patternof Society’. In 1988, a meeting ofthe All India Congress Commit-tee, presided over by RajivGandhi, was held at Marai-malainagar, following which thearea developed rapidly as an in-dustrial estate.

In this historic year, it wouldbe good if the Congress thoughtof unveiling plaques at the vari-ous locations that it met in Ma-dras, as a record for posterity.

Acknowledgements: HowIndia Wrought for Freedom – ByAnnie Besant. The Theosophi-cal Publishing House, Adyar,1915.

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(Continued on page 8)

Doveton House

During her reign a number of quarter rupee coins were issued. Soon afterher ascent to the throne, a silver quarter rupee coin was issued in India.The coins featured the bust of a young Queen Victoria. She was made thequeen soon after her 18th birthday

Victoria, Edward VII was crowned as the King of the United Kingdomand also as the Emperor of India. All new coins issued during the time borehis name and face.

introduced in 1919 didn’t gain popularity and soon the quarter rupee coinshad to be brought back.

6 MADRAS MUSINGS July 16-31, 2011

(Current Affairs questions arefrom the period June 16th to30th. Questions 11 to 20 per-tain to Chennai and TamilNadu.)1. How did Ayman al-Zawahirimake news on June 16th?2. Name the Northern Irelandgolfer who became the youngestsince Bobby Jones in 1923 to winthe U.S. Open, one of the four Ma-jors, recently.3. According to experts, which fa-mous artist’s self-portrait, dis-played in an eponymous museumin Amsterdam, is actually a depic-tion of his brother Theo?4. J.K. Rowling’s new project, aninteractive website, launched onJune 23rd, is called…?5. Which (now) common onlineactivity did Pope Benedict XVI useto launch a new Vatican websiteon June 29th?6. Christine Lagarde is the newhead of which global organisationfollowing her predecessor’s forceddeparture over a sexual assaultcontroversy?7. Name the (now) invite-only so-cial networking service operated byGoogle Inc., launched on June28th.8. Which very senior minister inthe Union Cabinet confirmed thathe suspected his ministry officeswere bugged and had sought a se-cret inquiry into the alleged inci-dents?9. Who is Michael Nobbs in theIndian sports scenario?10. India’s campaign to get whichplace to be declared a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site received a set-back, with the UN committeepostponing the decision to 2012?

* * *11. In which year was the Treatyof Aix-la-Chapelle, by which Ma-dras was restored to the English,signed?12. Which institution inTriplicane was founded by JanabSyed Azmathullah Sahib in 1927?13. What is the contribution of theartist Prof. R. Krishna Rao toTamil Nadu’s identity?14. Name the Speaker and DeputySpeaker of the present Tamil NaduLegislative Assembly.15. Who was described in a cita-tion awarded by UNESCO as ‘theprophet of the new age, theSocrates of South East Asia’?16. Which structure in TamilNadu, inaugurated on January 1,2000, is made up of 3681 stoneblocks weighing between 3 and 8tons each?17. Where in Madras was BidenHouse used as a harbour-masters’sresidence?18. Fill in the blank: French Capu-chin priest, Father Ephraim deNevers, is considered to havestarted in his own house in WhiteTown, very soon after Madrascame into being, the first ____.19. Royapettah House is now betterknown as…?20. Which major institution inMadras was inaugurated on Sep-tember 29, 1688?

(Answers on page 8)

Chennoise – that’s who

away into microphones in quietavenues. People use drillingequipment all the 24 hours re-pairing their flats with nothought for the elders, the sick,the infants in the neighbouringplaces. Yes, it is your house andyou have the right to set it right.But it is their living space too,they have the right to somepeace and quiet. Why can’t weinform our neighbours that wewill drill or hammer from, let’ssay, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m? We don’tcare about anyone else when weraise the noise decibel. So, kidslearn that it is all right to beloud and insensitive. And asgrown-ups they continue to beloud and forget the virtues of si-lence.

There are silences and si-lences. To name some, there isthe silence of spirituality, the si-lence of a learner, the silence ofloyalty, the silence of ignorance,the silence of weakness, the si-lence of cowardice, the silenceof reverence, the silence ofcompanionship and even theforced silence. Some are posi-tive silences, some are not. Forinstance, the silence of omertaimposed by the Mafiosi is not si-lence but muteness born of fear.When Peter denied Christthrice before the cock crew,that was not the right silence.The elders failed to speak andwere silent, when the Pandavaqueen was disrobed; that was asilence of adharma.

lence is, for they come fromnoisy homes and are sent tonoisy schools. She scrawls hername in the staff register, andrushes into the classroom, un-prepared for that day’s lesson.The first words she says are,“Children! Silence please!” Thechildren may stop shouting, butthat is not the learning silence.We must teach children therichness of silence. We mustteach them the virtue of beingquiet. We must teach them notto be restless in silence.

Every religious tradition hasthe vow of silence or practice ofsilence as an integral part of it.The technique of Vipassana isabout learning to be silent. TheCistercian Order or TrappistOrder is very strict about si-lence. Obviously, then, silenceis a sine qua non for spiritual evo-lution. The largest Muslimcountry in the world, Indonesia,declares a national holiday eachyear to mark the Hindu-major-ity Bali’s day of silence, HariRaya Nyepi Tahun Baru. Thisprofound concept has been ab-sorbed into the beautiful Mus-lim-Hindu culture of thatunique nation. It seems that onthat day the streets are empty,no TV, no radio, no entertain-ment, nothing. It is a day de-voted to introspection. Thoughit is a Hindu festival, everyone,even non-Hindus, willinglyadopts silence that day. Imaginethe whole of India turning in-wards and silent for a day! Doyou think we can start withChennai? Nope. I have asmuch hope as an icicle has ofsurvival in hell.

There is a book called, TheSacred Tree, compiled by TheFour World DevelopmentProject from contributions bythe Native elders, spiritual lead-ers and professionals of variousNative communities in NorthAmerica. It is a stunning evi-dence of the wisdom of theoriginal people of NorthAmerica. How much have welost by not listening to suchpeople? In this book, we read,“A sign that much work isneeded in the area of personalspiritual growth is when a per-son dislikes being alone, and es-pecially dislikes being alone insilence. Many people use televi-sion or recorded music to fill thesilence so that they do not haveto experience themselves asthey really are. To face our-selves in silence, and to loveourselves because the Creatorhas made us beautiful are thingsthat every developing humanbeing needs to learn.” Wow!All of us, not just theChennoise are stunted in spiri-tual growth, tested against thisstandard. Sigh!

proudly walk with wired earsnot wanting to listen to the‘cheep cheep’. Is it so difficult tobe with myself in silence, thateven when I walk I need auralcompany? Zen master ThichNhat Hanh recommends walk-ing meditation where the verysimple act of walking is tran-scended into a deeply healingtool which tells us how to be inthe here and now.

The Dakshinamurthi iconcreates for us a teacher and stu-dents learning in silence. Thereis a verse which is a beautifulstudy in contrast and it is alsoabout silence. It asks us to pic-ture at the base of the vata treethe aged disciples and the youngteacher! The teacher explainswordlessly and the doubts of thestudents are shattered. Thescene is so tranquil and sopeaceful. He is not burdened bythe thought of having to teachthe hardest lesson, the Lessonof Knowledge. The space underthe shade of the tree is one ofsilent communication and si-lent communion. Knowledge istransmitted easily and in silencebecause the students are readyto receive it. Their minds are si-lent too, not clamouring withconflicting thoughts. The spaceis free of noise; both noise in-side and noise outside.

But what about today’steacher? We will look at the or-dinary teacher who is buffetedby myriad problems, who isthere only for the paycheck andnot for love of teaching or forlove of children. There is nei-ther peace nor tranquillity inher mind nor in her life. Herstudents do not know what si-

The above is an extract froma newspaper. Maybe we

can call ourselves Chennoise?We shout, we scream, we areloud.

We believe in loudness forall seasons. We have devotionand faith blaring from thosecone things in every street andyou worry whether closing yourears is a sacrilege. In fact, therehave been cases in the MadrasHigh Court where petitionershave complained of this noiseassault. But Chennai does notcare.

We have huge commercialestablishments in residentialstreets, schools in cul-de-sacs,kalyana mandapams in whatused to be quiet streets. The of-fices have noisy generators andneighbours are asked to “adjist”when they complain of thenoise. Wedding receptions, ofcourse, must have what is calledlight music concerts. How is it“light”, pray? Weddings are so-cial occasions too, when wemeet friends and relatives, re-new bonds. It is just not aboutthe ‘girl’ and the ‘boy’ comingtogether. But with these hugespeakers drowning out normalsounds, we are zonked into si-lence. This is about dear onescoming together. The story isthe same when dear ones de-part. From the womb to thetomb, it is a life of audio attack.

But what do you expect?Schools shout. Children warble

Being quiet is a kindness toothers and to us. It is an act ofrespect. It is an act of ahimsa.Actually it is the incessant noisethat translates into violence inour lives. As a city we must stopbeing noisy. Is Chennai afraid ofsilence? We fill our space withnoise, or at least with texting,shuffling or ipoding, which areall noise too of a different kind.

As I said, our marriages arenoisy, our last processions arenoisy, our religious celebrationsare noisy, we are buffeted bynoises and have got so used to itthat we have become strangersto that silence which is the still-ness of being.

I see walkers wiring their earswith some music. Actuallythere are birds even now inChennai. Please listen to thoseminstrels. That music may soondie into eternity. But no, we

litigation on the demolition ofGokhale Hall, ruled that around400 buildings listed by the Jus-tice Padmanabhan Committeehad to be protected. Subse-quently, acting on the same rul-ing, the Government appointeda Heritage Conservation Com-mittee with a mandate to en-sure the protection of each ofthe buildings listed in the HighCourt’s judgement. However,with the Committee beinglargely populated by bureau-crats and with it choosing totake its own time in getting itsact together, several buildingswere demolished in the interim.And, later still, the Committee

has remained a passive witnessto the depredations of theMetro Rail which, unmindful ofany heritage consciousness, hascut a wide swathe of destructionin its wake.

It is in the light of these de-velopments that the demand fora Heritage Act in the city needsto be looked at. And so, duringMadras Week, we will be ap-proaching each one of you witha request to sign the petition.We look forward to your coop-eration to participate in thecontinuing effort to ensure thatChennai protects what littlethere is of its heritage, even if itmay not aspire for Heritage Citystatus, which, however, itshould.

(Continued from page 1)

Delhi, Ahmadabadsteal the show

we are Living in Chennai is equivalent to living in a factory – atleast in terms of how much noise all the residents are sub-jected to. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) shows that the noise levels everywhere in Chennaiare over 100 dB – more than a typical factory. The averagenoise level in Chennai is actually higher at more than 129decibels. It must be noted that pain in the ear begins at125 decibels. The permissible limit is 85 dB fixed by theWorld Health Organisation (WHO).

byPrabha Sridevan

July 16-31, 2011 MADRAS MUSINGS 7

Biking in searchof the tribals

Edgar Thurston, who wroteCastes and Tribes of South-

ern India, is well-remembered inanthropological, ethnographicand sociology circles in India.Unfortunately, forgotten is theMadras-based amateur ethnog-rapher and anthropology-en-thusiast Philo Irudayanath.Riding a modified push-bike,Irudayanath travelled overmuch of the Nilgiris and partsof the Western Ghats, travers-ing hilly terrains, travellingthrough thick forests whilestopping at tiny hamlets, and‘studying’ various tribes and no-madic communities.

Irudayanth’s concerted ef-forts to study the tribes of theNilgiris spanned nearly 50 years.While serving as a schoolteacher in Madras, Irudaya-nath’s chance encounter with awoman of the Kuruvikkãrartribe and her suggestion to curea bald patch on his hand provedto be a turning point; this inci-dent triggered his investigationof different tribes, such as theKôsava-s, Kãdar-s, Tôda-s,Narikurava-s, and Kuruvik-kãrar-s.

Born to Tamil parents inMysore in 1916, Irudayanathstudied at St. Joseph’s PrimarySchool, Pullipakkam, Chingle-put, and at San Thomé HighSchool, Madras. He adoptedthe Philo prefix after his family’svisit to St. Philomena’s Churchin Mysore. His mother was aschool teacher and his father,F.A. Michael, an army medicalofficer, who had served as a

Captain in World War I. Fromchildhood, Irudayanath was anavid collector of pictures ofpeople of different tribes which,he said, catalysed his future in-terest. He completed teachertraining, became a teacher, andworked in three different Gov-ernment primary schools in theMadras Province.

His articles reveal that heplanned thoroughly before ev-ery tour – getting to know theplace of visit, which tribes livedthere, locating a suitable hu-man guide, and packing all nec-essary items for the expedition,which was usually for a week ortwo.

During his bike rides to thehills and forests, he lived with

the tribal people, eating theirfood, danced and sang withthem, and slept in their huts.From his travels, he broughtback an extensive collection ofmaterial (bamboo productsused by the tribes, their cloth-ing, ornamental wear, andmuch more), but his real trea-sure was his vast collection ofpictures and negatives, whichare either lost or gone into vari-ous hands.

On a few occasions, Irudaya-nath’s wife, Philomena, accom-panied him.

Irudayanath strongly be-lieved that it was because of cer-

tain ‘dictatorial’ rulers thatpeople were driven from theirterritories to seek shelter in thehills and forests to secure them-selves from the destructionwrought by such rulers. In hisessays, he links their customs,language, songs, dances, andvarious other art forms to thatof their ancestors. This he doesciting poems from Sangam po-etry – Tolkappiyam, Mani-mekalai, Silappadhigaram, EttuTokai – the works of Subra-mania Bharatiyar and also fromthe Bible.

He has traced links betweenvarious Dravidian tribes andthe Sumerians, Africans, andEgyptians. In fact, he devoted afull title to this subject:

Adivãsigalin Marainda Varalarupublished by TamizhselviNilayam in 1977 and 1979. In ithe records his observations ofthe identical buffalo sacrificefollowed by the Todas and theGonds of Central India. Refer-ring to the Tamil classicalworks, Peruntokai and Purana-nuru, he states that theEnatiars, living near Kurnool,Cudappah, Chittoor, andNellore, were known as trustedlieutenants of the Cholas.

In Pazhankudiyinar, he de-tails the traditional rituals andcustoms of the Irula commu-nity, which is driven by the

number 12, the importance ofmuttukottai ennai used in theirbirths, deaths and other func-tions, the eight divisions amongthem, their Panchayat organi-sation, and the various roles ofits members. Detailing anothertribe, the Anamalai Pulaiyar, hequotes from the Tolkappiyam totrace the origin of the use oftodu (olai curul) used by thewomen of this tribe. He infersthat the Pulaiyars would havemigrated from the hill countryof neighbouring Kerala as theycelebrate Onam and Vishu.

He records that, while vari-ous government schemes usingmodern technological tools,could not store seeds and grainssafely, techniques employed byadivasis were successful. Ma-ture seeds and grains werestored in large kalanjiyam-s(made from a mixture of cowdung, chunnam, clay, and a juiceextract from the palm tree) thatwere usually covered with korai,all made from locally availablematerials. He asserts that thetribes use such kalanjiyam-s for5-6 years without having tobuild another one.

He carried the Bible duringall his travels, praying for apeaceful family life, and stronglybelieved that monetary short-comings would not stop himfrom his ambitions.

Irudayanath’s early writing ison the small towns and villagesthat he visited during his trav-els, recording their historicalsignificance, detailing etymo-logical roots of the place namesand other details.

For instance, he infers thatMasinagudi is derived frommasina, the God of the Lam-badis and Sukkalis of theNilgiris and mentions that itsearlier name was Devaraya-pattinam. Similarly, he traces

the etymology of Kovalam andTarangambadi. He has alsowritten about landmarks insome of these places – one suchplace is Kumili Kulam in Kumilireachable from Kannivakkam(between Guduvancheri andNellikuppam); water in thiskulam, he claims, is known forits medicinal value because thewater gets mixed with plantsknown to possess remedialqualities, as it winds it waythrough the mountains beforereaching the kulam. Not stop-ping with that, he records thepresence of onbathu kalvettunear the kulam.

According to professionalsociologists, Irudayanath’s ar-ticles sensationalised certainfacts and incidents to boostreadership. His articles werepublished in Kalaimagal,Manjari, Sakti and other maga-zines. The Chennai branch ofthe National Folklore SupportCentre Library and RojaMuthiah Research Library[RMRL] in Taramani have intheir collection about 25 titlesauthored by Irudayanath andpublished by half a dozen pub-lishing houses, such as Vanathi,Kalaimagal, Malligai, Illango,Tamizhselvi and Muthu.

Irudayanath received theTamil Nadu State award forteachers in 1968 and thePresident’s award in 1978. Al-though his efforts were notfunded by research agenciesand although during his timeenvironment was not thebuzzword as it is now, he took itupon himself to study in detailand document his findingswithout formal training in an-thropology, and with the leastuse of modern gadgets andtransport modes (often hehitched space on lorries, andbullock carts for himself and hispush bike). It is time an effort ismade to collate all his writingsand his pictures.

� M. RAMANATHAN remembers

PHILO IRUDAYANATH

When do we get a Heritage Act?(Continued from page 2)

buildings and environs declaredto be architecturally and his-torically important to the pub-lic.

The Heritage Act, as con-ceived by INTACH, aimed toensure the following:

For buildings:Listed buildings cannot be

demolished, altered, or left towanton decay.

Physical intervention to theinterior and interior structuresmay be permitted but need tobe monitored.

For environs:The declaration of an area

as a Heritage Zone alerts townplanners to the special needs ofthose areas. Special develop-ment rules would need to bedrafted to regulate develop-ment and protect the characterof the Heritage Zone.

Local delaysObserving the delay in

bringing legislation separatelyfor protection and conserva-

tion of heritage buildings andprecincts, I had once suggestedamendment to the Local Bod-ies Act to protect and conserveheritage buildings and pre-cincts. No definitive move to-wards this direction has hap-pened yet. In a seminar onHeritage Buildings/Precincts inthe Chennai MetropolitanArea held on October 8, 2010,the then Minister and Chair-man of the CMDA announcedthat a “Heritage Act” was un-der active consideration of theGovernment and would be en-acted soon. However, the aspi-ration of the public for a Heri-tage Act remains unfulfilled.

Notwithstanding plans toenact legislation on heritage,the CMDA, by making use ofthe Second Master Plan,started adopting a regulatoryprocess for conservation ofheritage. A Committee wasconstituted to go in to the sub-ject of ‘Heritage’ and, at thefirst instance, prepare a list ofbuildings of historical and/or

architectural importance andcultural value. However, thisexercise is limited to only theChennai Metropolitan Area. Inthe absence of implementationof Master Plans for the State’sother cities and no provisionsmade in the Local Body Act forintroducing a regulatory pro-cess for protecting and conserv-ing heritage buildings/pre-cincts, it is all the more impor-tant to enact legislation onheritage at the earliest, with thescope:

– To list and document heri-tage for protection, manage-ment and conservation;

– To prepare heritage con-servation plans and projectswith a focus on urban heritage;

– To create and strengthenthe institutional set-up andcarry out necessary capacitybuilding on heritage conserva-tion;

– To take measures foradaptive re-use of heritagebuildings; and

– To use urban heritage to

revitalise cities’ economies andurban built environment for abetter quality of life.

Under the provisions of thisAct, a multi-disciplinary tech-nical committee should beformed to work out rules ofheritage conservation and toevaluate and approve potentiallisted buildings and environssubmitted to them.

The conservation regula-tions should form a part of theHeritage Act.

There should be provisionfor budgetary support by theState and Local Governmentsfor conservation of heritagesubjects as and when listed.

After the Assembly electionin April 2011, a new Govern-ment has come to power andmoved to Fort St. George, aHeritage precinct.

I hope the long-awaitedHeritage Act for Tamil Naduwill be enacted by it in 2011/2012. (Courtesy: Our Buildingand Construction)

– K.R. Thooyavan

Philo Irudayanath. (Courtesy:Roja Muthiah Research Library,Taramani)

8 MADRAS MUSINGS July 16-31, 2011

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, 260-A, TTK Road, Chennai 600 018 and printed by T J George at Lokavani-Hallmark Press Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006. Edited by S. MUTHIAH.

Since 1856,patently leaders— A WELLWISHER

Madras Musings is supported as a public service by the following organisations

Published by S. Muthiah for ‘Chennai Heritage’, No. 5, Bhattad Tower, 30, Westcott Road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014, printed by T J George at Lokavani Southern Printers Pvt. Ltd., 122, Greams Road, Chennai 600 006, and edited by S. Muthiah.

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Madras Week gets underwaywith design & heritage contests

Madras Day/Week (August21-28) is already getting

underway with two contestsand a participatory programmealready announced by MylaporeTimes. One competition is todesign a ‘T-shirt for Chennai’.The other is a contest for schoolstudents which encouragesthem to explore less knownheritage places in the city andpresent each as a project.

Designers and creativepeople, besides students of art,design and film, can take part inthe T-shirt contest. The prize-winner not only gets a cash prizeof Rs.3000 and a certificate, butis also invited to help use or re-design the work to be used onthe ‘Chennai T-shirt’ of 2012which will be offered to the pub-lic at a nominal price. This con-test closes on August 5th.

The contest for students in-vites city schools to createteams of three each which willeach choose a heritage spot /trend / milestone and research,record and jot down all thathelps to create a great powerpoint production. The teams

will then meet on August 23rdat a hall in Luz for the contest.Last year, 21 schools took partand the top three took hometrophies, gifts and certificates.Entry has to be made at theschool level. Extensive informa-tion on these contests is postedat www.themadrasday.in.

Mylapore Times is also en-couraging making documenta-ries in English/Tamil on Madrasthat is Chennai. About itspeople and places, its landmarksand its institutions, its life-trends and its communities.The best of the documentarieswill be screened at a festivalduring the Madras Day/Weekcelebrations in August.

The project for 2011 is nowopen to students of VisCommand Media, Film and Botanyand History, to young film-mak-ers, artists and writers and jour-nalists, to anyone who lovesChennai and is capable of mak-ing small films.

The selection: You mustsubmit any form of creative ma-terial that proves your interestin the city / film documentation

/ media. You can send us roughcut film material or just photosor articles. You must also tell usin 100 words the subject onChennai you would like todocument on film. You shouldsubmit your application by July25th.

Those who qualify will thenhave to submit a film plan andscript. The best four selectedwill be paid Rs. 9,000 each tomake the film and Rs. 3,000each when the film is submittedto Mylapore Times by August25th.

Note: Only one person whoplans to produce/direct thedocumentary should apply. He/she in turn can employ othersfor shooting/editing/sound de-sign, etc. Mylapore Times canhelp with research material, in-puts, sources, etc.

Screening: All films will bescreened in late August/mid-September in Chennai at a FES-TIVAL.

Contact: 98410 49155.Email-themadrasday@gmail.com

Other early starters are AsanMemorial School, which has

planned a week-long celebra-tion shortly before MadrasWeek, and the Rotary Club ofMadras South, which has aspeaker on a Madras-focussedsubject at every meeting inAugust.

Chennai Heritage is plan-ning a talk every day during theWeek. Chamiers, Taj ClubHouse, Amethyst, Savera, ParkSheraton and the GymkhanaClub have already agreed tohost the talks. Speakers will in-clude Prabha Sridevan, HarryMaclure, Mohan Raman, GeetaDoctor, P. Unnikrishnan andK.R.N. Menon in dialogue.

Chennai Heritage will alsolead several walks in little vis-ited areas of Madras. NammaMylapore has planned guidedtours of DakshinaChitra andthe Museum’s Bronze Galleryled by Chitra Madhavan. AndNizhal is planning two treewalks in parks and a ‘Trees ofMadras’ exhibition for children.

The Madras Naturalists’ So-ciety is also planning a coupleof excursions to take in the

By the late 1960s, Indians had become used to the newcoinage system. The text ‘rupaiye ka chautha bhag’ (one

1972In 1988 the 25 paisa coin went steel and was made offerratic stainless steel. It was a little heavier than its prede-

2002

fourth of a rupee) was also replaced by 25 paise. While other coins oflower denominations underwent a major change and moved to alu-minium, the 25 paise coin didn’t change much.

birds and ‘wild life’ of the city’ssuburbs and the Mylapore Timeshas several programmes for theMylapore area. Namma ArcotRoad too is planning a host ofevents, including a whole-dayprogramme at the Green ParkHotel.

Pradeep Chakravarthy isplanning temple walks everyweek during August, andRevathy and Nandini have sev-eral programmes tied up for theKilpauk-Purasawalkam area.The Roja Muthiah Research Li-brary intends to host severaltalks in Tamil during the Weektogether with an exhibitionbased on its collection.INTACH-Chennai Chapter isputting together several eventsin which numerous schools areexpected to participate. SOSVillage, Tambaram, hasplanned several programmes.So has the Association of Brit-ish Scholars.

And the Murugappa Groupis planning to have a grand in-ter-schools quiz for ‘Madras372’.

The August 1st issue of Ma-dras Musings will have details ofall these events and many more.And the August 16th issue willinclude a comprehensive guideto all the ‘Madras Week’ eventsthat plan to stretch into amonth.

The evolution of a coin no moreAnswers to Quiz

1. He was elected the leader ofal-Qaeda, succeeding Osama binLaden; 2. Rory McIlroy; 3. VincentVan Gogh; 4. Pottermore; 5.Tweeting, the first by a Pope; 6. In-ternational Monetary Fund; 7.Google+; 8. Pranab Mukherjee; 9.The new coach of Indian men’shockey team; 10. The WesternGhats.

* * *11. 1748; 12. The hand-written

The Musalman newspaper; 13. Hedesigned the State emblem; 14. D.Jayakumar and P. Dhanapal; 15.Periyar; 16. The Thiruvalluvarstatue in Kanniyakumari; 17.Royapuram; 18. Western-typeschool; 19. Amir Mahal; 20. TheCorporation of Madras.

(By A Staff Reporter)

cessor at 2.83 grams but was of the same size. The last 25 paise coinsseen in popular circulation were minted in the year 2002.

(Continued from page 5)